After months of leaks, the HTC 10 is official. The HTC 10 releases as the successor to prior devices like the HTC One M9 and the HTC One M9, despite HTC dropping the “One M” moniker. The manufacturer says the new name is indicative of an overall simplicity it hopes to evoke with its latest flagship. With the 10, HTC aims to address some areas in which it has fallen short on previous devices, in particular, imaging and photography.
“The M9 didn’t quite live up to our expectations; didn’t quite capture the imagination of the consumers like we would have liked it to,” HTC’s AVP of product planning, Nigel Newby-House said at a press briefing prior to the HTC 10 launch.
The HTC 10 comes chock full of the latest hardware, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chip, a 5.2-inch Quad HD display, 4GB of RAM of RAM with microSD expansion and 32GB and 64GB internal storage options and a 12-megapixel camera rear and 5-megapixel front camera, both with f/1.8 aperture for better imaging overall, particularly in low light.
Other features include 3,000mah battery with Quick Charge 3.0, a USB Type-C port a fingerprint sensor, HTC’s BoomSound speakers and Android 6.0 Marshmallow with the HTC Sense overlay.
The HTC 10 will be available in two color options, Glacier silver and Carbon Gray.
HTC calls the 10, the “perfect 10,” but we’ll be the judge of that. Check out our first hands look at the HTC 10, as well as many details about the new smartphone.
At first glance, the HTC 10 looks like the HTC One M9 and the HTC One A9 had a baby. While still reminiscent of the standard HTC design, the 10 deviates with a deep bezel on its back panel. The device definitely has weight to it, which HTC says is intentional. It's is not heavy, but solid.
The front panel mirrors what we've already seen on the HTC One A9. It is completely glass, with capacitive back and history buttons on the bottom bezel instead of on the display. The buttons go dark when on in use but illuminate when pressed. The touchscreen sensitivity is especially apparent.
Between the two HTC 10 color options, we prefer the Carbon Gray. The contrast of the silver with the dark front panel isn't that appealing to us.
The cool black-on-black feel of the Carbon Gray is a plus. You also really get to experience the matte finish with this color option.
HTC has maintained its commitment to keeping Android more pure and minimal. HTC Sense remains, but it significantly more stripped down.
Though with this particular HTC stock theme, the view looks quite crowded, since the app tray background is transparent.
HTC's Freestyle themes is a fun novelty feature that allows users to move app links, which we will discuss further in our in-depth review.
The Quad HD display is sure to appeal to hardware buffs. HTC's three previous flagships all featured Full HD displays, which proved disappointing to consumers.
The HTC 10 also introduced USB Type-C power port, which features Quick Charge 3.0 and promises a charge increase of 50 percent in 30-minutes.
The manufacturer has maintained its dual-speaker system by putting the second speaker on the bottom of the device. This was done to make up for the all-glass front panel. Audio quality does not disappoint. HTC's latest BoomSound features 24-bit high resolution audio.
The HTC 10 adopts the front-facing fingerprint scanner introduced on the HTC One A9, which authenticates in 0.2 seconds. The phone authenticates and unlocks at the same time, going directly from an idle screen to the home screen.
HTC says significant improvements on the 10 come in its camera technology. The manufacturer introduced its 12-megapixel UltraPixel 2 lens, which has pixels even larger than the previous iteration, to allow more light into the lens. This makes for sharper images. HTC says the imaging lab DxOMark has rated its camera among the top mobile shooters on the market.
The camera features laser autofocus, optical image stabilization, dual tone LED flash 4K video recording, slow motion video recording in addition to several shooting modes.
Preliminary selfie shots on the 5-megapixel front facing camera have proved impressive. The lens also features optical image stabilization. We will discuss the camera's, shooting experience and image quality further in our in depth review.
There's no mistaking the power button for another key on the HTC 10. The ridges on the power button give the device a little bit of a rugged look. The tactile aid is also helpful for easy handling of the device, and not having to fumble between figuring out whether you're touching the power button or the volume rockers.
HTC retains a 35mm audio jack on the 10, despite rumors that competitor devices may soon ship without the feature. Users can select between different listening modes, depending on whether they are listening to music or watching a video.
The HTC 10 supports expandable storage up to 2TB and also supports Google's adaptive storage. This is a feature, which many have removed from their 2016 flagships. The feature allows users to configure a microSD card on a smartphone so the device reads it as if it were internal storage. This make it so the device won't put any limitations on the storage option due to it being external.
Check out some other images of the HTC 10:
